A volcano chaser covering an eruption in southwestern Iceland captured a magical nighttime waltz between the Northern Lights and spurring lava that lit up the sky above the Reykjanes Peninsula this week.
Marco Di Marco was able to get drone footage of the shimmering ribbons of blue and green light and the powerful eruption — now in its 29th day — Monday night into Tuesday local time following powerful solar flares. He later created a time-lapse video of nature’s grand spectacle.
“I’ve filmed the aurora dancing above this eruption four times since March, but this last one was by far the strongest and the brightest,” Di Marco told the Globe. “I knew that the odds were there to see it again, but I didn’t expect such a strong aurora display. It’s hard to describe the feeling of witnessing a combination like this when two strong natural events unfold together in the same location.”
The Northern Lights, also known as the aurora borealis, occur when energetic particles (electrons) from the sun in the solar wind collide with the upper parts of the Earth’s atmosphere, causing light to emerge.
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Di Marco said views of the Northern Lights and eruption appeared as if “the sky exploded” just a few minutes after they arrived.
The Fagradalsfjall volcano, located north of Grindavik, a fishing town of 3,400 people, and about 30 miles from Iceland’s capital Reykjavik, has erupted multiple times since December in an area known as the Sundhnúkur crater. The volcanic eruptions began as a series of small earthquakes before a fissure 2½ miles long opened and began spewing lava and forcing evacuations.
Fagradalsfjall was dormant for about 6,000 years before coming to life in March 2021, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office. Iceland is known for being volcanically active, with 32 volcanic sites.
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Di Marco said he captured the video, which has now been shared around the world, after sunset in Iceland.
“The aurora started very strongly as soon as the sky became dark, around 11 p.m. and it lasted until late night,” he said.
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Carlos Muñoz can be reached at carlos.munoz@globe.com. Follow him @ReadCarlos and on Instagram @Carlosbrknews.